I guess in this thing's inception I was a little dishonest; this will be primarily an outlet for my musings on rock music as it is by far my biggest preoccupation.
I recently compiled a series of 3 mixed CDs. Two focused on music I have been currently or recently listening to alot. (the newest Ghostface Killah album is totally boss, no?) They basically focused on the end of my school year. It is funny how much of my life has been broken up arbitrarily into semesters in and breaks from school. My music, my thoughts, the essence of my self... What am I gonna do now?
The third mixed CD is the one I'm worried about though. I put together a radio mixtape. The inspiration was the old cassette tapes I used to tape songs off the radio with. Sitting in my room through countless hours of WCYY programming to apprehend the singles of the moment. I taped Big Bang Baby by the stone temple pilots before the album was out. I consider this a prototype for stealing singles off the interenet. I have no idea what it was b/w, but does that matter? The tape had it accompanied by People of the Sun and I think Bullet with Butterfly Wings. Needless to say all of these jams made it to the mix. So essentially this is a mix of songs I was rocking in the 6-7 grades (sounds exciting, no?). I think this represents a last hurrah of the fertile 1990s. As we moved into the new millenium the glory of alternative music experienced a fizzlefuck of epic proportions and I stopped listening to the radio. I guess it took the ascendence of Limp Bizkit and the Dave Matthews Band for me to see the fickle and manipulative nature of FM. But for awhile there it was nice.
I feel a kind of kinship to people who taped music off the radio at some point. Part of me thinks either everyone did this (the technology was not exclusive) or everyone says they did because it has become "cool." If the latter is true, fuck the pretenders and thank god its cool because I was for a short time a pretty fanatical devotee, and I wanna be cool. (Also I want 6th grade Vlad to be cool. And he was, he was in a band called Stanley and the Steamboats and one time played God Save the Queen which he sang...) If I missed STP on the first play it was sure to reappear during the top 5 at 5pm. And for the record fuck STP, but Big Bang Baby still gets me a little buzz.
Its funny that this music represents the glory of 90s alternative to me because this is cretainly the tail end of something that for awhile showed promise of altering the record industry. None of these are the hard working, always touring post-punk heroes of the 1980s underground. These bands merely reaped the spoils of the extensive groundwork laid by the likes of the minutemen, sonic youth, dinosaur jr. (see I've learned some stuff since 6th grade). Is that so bad? I now understand how a lot of this worked and I still like to listen to Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins and I consider it a boon to popular music that they were able to cash into major label distribution as a result of the post-punk underground's buying power. Am I wrong, have I missed something, do these ends not justify the lack of recognition some of these geniuses were afforded in their own time? Would the underground really be satisfied with a major label breakthrough for one of their own? Who's more fickle FM or scenesters? I'm rambling...I'm missing whatever vague mark I laid out for this. I think its a funny proclivity of mine to align myself with the hip, or prove my extensive relationship with marginal popular music and then turn around and give the finger to anyone else in my situation. But you gotta, otherwise you become too entwined in one or the other thing and lose sight of what's important and real. At least I don't pull this shit on my friends, or if I do its only cause they were gonna do it to me.
So my timing is once again a problem to me and my honest enjoyment needs to be cut with some heavy, hipster shit to get high anymore. Some people, I am told, simply listen to what sounds good and leave it at that. I try, I really do. Hence I get beyond some of my erstwhile snootiness and put When I come Around on the mixed CD. This caused some controversy. Controversy here meaning my brother came into the room as I played this tune and mockingly made the metal hand sign saying "Green Day, sweet!" His emphasis was not excitement but ridicule. In the past I would totally agree with this assessment. Even in the heyday of radio mixed tapes I kinda thought Green Day sucked. (though aforementioned band of that era would also jam on one of the songs from Insomniac...I think it was Brain Stew) Perhaps it is just another side effect of what should prove to be my eventual total mellowing that I pretty much dig this song now. This thought indicates another worry; my burgeoning nostalgia. I don't really feel comfortable with any type of nostalgia. I suspect any feelings of this kind but for rock 'n' roll. And too bad for my mind too because this is probably the worst type. It is established and silly to those not caught up in its destructive air-guitar solo. For anyone who cares about rock and how important it can be rock nostalgia should be thoroughly examined as it will no doubt cheapen the really good shit and mis-direct the discourse. Simply because a song transports me gleefully into another period of listening does not make it good. Some things should really get forgotten. I'm basically calling out my downloading and continual enjoying of Better than Ezra and the Toadies now. To progress, to move forward should I do something radical? Its time for me to fucking burn What's the Story Morning Glory and just get on with life. Yeah, Don't Look Back in Anger is totally excellent and the drum fill after the guitar solo will always hit with that satisfying surprise that I'm totally expecting but so what? Weird. There will always be new songs that could have this effect right?
NO Because the nostalgia is such a part of this experience of the song. Oh fuck then is the song really all that good or am I just happy to have known it so long? Is there some type of objective gauge for rocking or is it just what you come to understand and appreciate? I thought Kid A sucked when I first heard it but I came to love it and no one calls me out on that. (I always liked National Anthem though) Of course Edie Davis lent me Kid A and I wanted to like it because I liked her so I gave it a lot more effort.
In this sense I am progressing by getting to a better spot with Green Day. I gain nothing by rocking this tune except my nostalgic good vibrations. I'm turning the stereo way up and rewinding the tape to before the d-bag disc jocky started talking at the end of the last track. I'm kind of stupid and kind of whiny but so's the singer. Don't try to slag me down, I know you're right
I recently compiled a series of 3 mixed CDs. Two focused on music I have been currently or recently listening to alot. (the newest Ghostface Killah album is totally boss, no?) They basically focused on the end of my school year. It is funny how much of my life has been broken up arbitrarily into semesters in and breaks from school. My music, my thoughts, the essence of my self... What am I gonna do now?
The third mixed CD is the one I'm worried about though. I put together a radio mixtape. The inspiration was the old cassette tapes I used to tape songs off the radio with. Sitting in my room through countless hours of WCYY programming to apprehend the singles of the moment. I taped Big Bang Baby by the stone temple pilots before the album was out. I consider this a prototype for stealing singles off the interenet. I have no idea what it was b/w, but does that matter? The tape had it accompanied by People of the Sun and I think Bullet with Butterfly Wings. Needless to say all of these jams made it to the mix. So essentially this is a mix of songs I was rocking in the 6-7 grades (sounds exciting, no?). I think this represents a last hurrah of the fertile 1990s. As we moved into the new millenium the glory of alternative music experienced a fizzlefuck of epic proportions and I stopped listening to the radio. I guess it took the ascendence of Limp Bizkit and the Dave Matthews Band for me to see the fickle and manipulative nature of FM. But for awhile there it was nice.
I feel a kind of kinship to people who taped music off the radio at some point. Part of me thinks either everyone did this (the technology was not exclusive) or everyone says they did because it has become "cool." If the latter is true, fuck the pretenders and thank god its cool because I was for a short time a pretty fanatical devotee, and I wanna be cool. (Also I want 6th grade Vlad to be cool. And he was, he was in a band called Stanley and the Steamboats and one time played God Save the Queen which he sang...) If I missed STP on the first play it was sure to reappear during the top 5 at 5pm. And for the record fuck STP, but Big Bang Baby still gets me a little buzz.
Its funny that this music represents the glory of 90s alternative to me because this is cretainly the tail end of something that for awhile showed promise of altering the record industry. None of these are the hard working, always touring post-punk heroes of the 1980s underground. These bands merely reaped the spoils of the extensive groundwork laid by the likes of the minutemen, sonic youth, dinosaur jr. (see I've learned some stuff since 6th grade). Is that so bad? I now understand how a lot of this worked and I still like to listen to Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins and I consider it a boon to popular music that they were able to cash into major label distribution as a result of the post-punk underground's buying power. Am I wrong, have I missed something, do these ends not justify the lack of recognition some of these geniuses were afforded in their own time? Would the underground really be satisfied with a major label breakthrough for one of their own? Who's more fickle FM or scenesters? I'm rambling...I'm missing whatever vague mark I laid out for this. I think its a funny proclivity of mine to align myself with the hip, or prove my extensive relationship with marginal popular music and then turn around and give the finger to anyone else in my situation. But you gotta, otherwise you become too entwined in one or the other thing and lose sight of what's important and real. At least I don't pull this shit on my friends, or if I do its only cause they were gonna do it to me.
So my timing is once again a problem to me and my honest enjoyment needs to be cut with some heavy, hipster shit to get high anymore. Some people, I am told, simply listen to what sounds good and leave it at that. I try, I really do. Hence I get beyond some of my erstwhile snootiness and put When I come Around on the mixed CD. This caused some controversy. Controversy here meaning my brother came into the room as I played this tune and mockingly made the metal hand sign saying "Green Day, sweet!" His emphasis was not excitement but ridicule. In the past I would totally agree with this assessment. Even in the heyday of radio mixed tapes I kinda thought Green Day sucked. (though aforementioned band of that era would also jam on one of the songs from Insomniac...I think it was Brain Stew) Perhaps it is just another side effect of what should prove to be my eventual total mellowing that I pretty much dig this song now. This thought indicates another worry; my burgeoning nostalgia. I don't really feel comfortable with any type of nostalgia. I suspect any feelings of this kind but for rock 'n' roll. And too bad for my mind too because this is probably the worst type. It is established and silly to those not caught up in its destructive air-guitar solo. For anyone who cares about rock and how important it can be rock nostalgia should be thoroughly examined as it will no doubt cheapen the really good shit and mis-direct the discourse. Simply because a song transports me gleefully into another period of listening does not make it good. Some things should really get forgotten. I'm basically calling out my downloading and continual enjoying of Better than Ezra and the Toadies now. To progress, to move forward should I do something radical? Its time for me to fucking burn What's the Story Morning Glory and just get on with life. Yeah, Don't Look Back in Anger is totally excellent and the drum fill after the guitar solo will always hit with that satisfying surprise that I'm totally expecting but so what? Weird. There will always be new songs that could have this effect right?
NO Because the nostalgia is such a part of this experience of the song. Oh fuck then is the song really all that good or am I just happy to have known it so long? Is there some type of objective gauge for rocking or is it just what you come to understand and appreciate? I thought Kid A sucked when I first heard it but I came to love it and no one calls me out on that. (I always liked National Anthem though) Of course Edie Davis lent me Kid A and I wanted to like it because I liked her so I gave it a lot more effort.
In this sense I am progressing by getting to a better spot with Green Day. I gain nothing by rocking this tune except my nostalgic good vibrations. I'm turning the stereo way up and rewinding the tape to before the d-bag disc jocky started talking at the end of the last track. I'm kind of stupid and kind of whiny but so's the singer. Don't try to slag me down, I know you're right
posted by vw at 9:24 AM
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